Feb 11 press roundup

Nadal admitted he had struggled with the pace of Bolelli’s shots, saying: “In tennis, every match is very tough and I’m very happy to win the first match. He’s a very good player, he played big shots from the baseline. He improves every year, I want to congratulate him.”

“It was a very tough match but I expected it,” said Nadal. “You have the best players in the world playing this tournament so there are no easy matches. This court is one of the fastest I have played on in the last couple of years. He played very well but I think I deserved to win in the third set – I found a good rhythm in the last set and had many chances to break him, especially early in the set, and he didn’t have any chances to break me.”

Dimitrov and Nadal have trained together as well. “He’s never given me any tips, but just working with him and watching his game is tips enough – his practice sessions are crazy,” said the Bulgarian. “If I play Nadal it will show me what I have to work on in my game.”